Exploring the Rich Heritage and Modern Marvels of Wichita

Experience Wichita like never before as I share a whirlwind three-day adventure through this fascinating city, promising insights into its rich Wild West history and modern marvels. From the legendary tales of Wyatt Earp to the authentic Old Cowtown Museum, this journey captures the essence of Wichita’s past and present. We’ll explore the legacy of Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel, celebrated at the Kansas African American Museum, and reveal the humble beginnings of Pizza Hut, a global icon born of entrepreneurial spirit. Get ready to unlock the vibrant stories that make Wichita a treasure trove of culture and history.

But that’s not all—our exploration extends to Wichita’s cultural offerings, where train enthusiasts will find a haven at the Great Plains Transportation Museum, and everyone can appreciate the solemn beauty of Veterans Memorial Park. Aviation buffs, prepare to be amazed at the Kansas Aviation Museum and the B-29 Doc Hangar. Feel the magic of the Keeper of the Plains sculpture, and embark on the newly established Gunsmoke Trail, connecting Wichita’s Wild West heritage with the iconic TV series. Whether it’s the bustling Douglas Avenue or the welcoming community, Wichita is your unexpected travel destination. Join me for this captivating episode and look forward to our next journey, where more top travel destinations await.

Transcript

00:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Traveling Fool. I’m your host, Bob Bales, and today we’re going to be talking about a place where a Wild West legend once walked the streets. It was also the birthplace of an award-winning actress and the birthplace of an iconic American restaurant. Now I visited this place about a year and a half ago and I’m telling you I had so much fun. There was so much to see and do. I had a blast. So, stay tuned, I’m going to tell you all about it.

All right, welcome back to the Traveling Fool. I’m your host, bob Bales, and today we are talking about Wichita, Kansas. I visited here a couple of years ago about a year and a half ago and I was blown away and pleasantly surprised at everything there was to see and do there. I was invited to Wichita by the tourism bureau, and they did me right. They gave me a car and turned me loose, showed me some things that they said here you might want to go, check these places out. And then they said just explore and have fun. And that’s what I did for about three days, and it was a whirlwind three days. I went everywhere I could, didn’t have a moment’s rest and I enjoyed every bit of it.

01:51

Now, long before Tombstone, Wyatt Earp arrived in Wichita and while his common-law wife opened up a brothel, he worked as private security for businesses, convincing people that they owed money and they needed to pay up, and by all accounts he was pretty successful at doing that. Now some accounts say he was arrested a few times for frequenting brothels in Wichita, but he later joined the local police force but unfortunately, he was fired from that after getting into a fistfight with a political challenger of his boss for the position of city marshal. After that man said a few disparaging things about his wife and the boss Not together, but two different things. He didn’t take kindly to it, so they fired him. But while you’re there you can see the Wichita Jail that was built in 1871. It is actually on display at the Cowtown Museum.

Now the old Cowtown Museum is an outdoor exhibition and living history museum of old Kansas. The museum comprises 54 authentic historic and recreated buildings in an old west town. It’s got houses, a church, general store, a blacksmith, city marshal’s office, bank saloon and just a whole bunch more. Now they’ve shot a few movies and television shows here, because it is one of the few places that you can film 360 degrees and all you see is an Old West town. It’s unlike some of these TV shows where you look and you see an Old West saloon, but if you look behind the camera there might be a parking lot with a BMW parked in it. No, you stand in the middle of the street here and everywhere you look you think you’re in an Old West town, so it was perfect for filming. It is a fantastic display, and they have people that recreate everyday life, and they also have a lot of events going on there. You never really know what’s happening there, but if you check out their website, you will see all kinds of things coming up, and if you ever get to Wichita, you need to visit this place.

04:01

Like I told you in the intro, Wichita is also the home of an award-winning actress, born in this town in 1893. This actress would later move to Colorado at the age of seven with her family, before later moving on to California, but in the meantime, she became a successful singer, part-time actress before her breakout role in the 1939 epic Gone with the Wind. I bet you know who I’m talking about. She earned Best Supporting Actress award for that movie establishing her as the first African American to win an Oscar. As the first African American to win an Oscar, she would later go on to be honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and featured on a US postage stamp.

I’m talking about Hattie McDaniel. She and other prominent African Americans are showcased at the Kansas African American Museum, which is housed in what used to be an old Baptist church, and I’m telling you, the church is fantastic. It’s one of those big architectural things and you go in there. I think that’s one of the best parts about the museum. Actually, it’s just a beautiful place. I went there and I was greeted by a young fellow who is a college student, and he works there part-time, gave me a tour of the place and told me all about the history of Wichita and how these prominent people in Wichita played an important role in Wichita and some of the events that happened there and everything else. Plus, they have a lot of African art that’s on display there. It’s a great museum to visit. I highly encourage you to go visit it. But in addition to Hattie McDaniel, a couple other people that you might have heard of were born there. Football greats Gale Sayers and Barry Sanders were also born in Wichita. Now the museum has plans to move into a larger facility in the next few years, but hopefully some of someone will keep that old church open, because I really think it’s part of the appeal.

06:10

Now I also told you about an iconic restaurant. In 1958, there were two brothers, fellows, by the name of Dan and Frank Carney. They were both college students. They borrowed $600 from their mother to open up a pizza place. They had this vision. They said you know what? We could make pizza better than just anybody else around here. And college students love pizza. So, I see a business opportunity. Now the name for their business came about because of the size of their building, kind of a really small building. So, they had to fit the name of the business to fit the building. They only had so much room on this little bitty building and so they named it Pizza Hut. Now they had an eye on buying quality ingredients from local farmers and delivering a quality product, and I’m telling you, the business took off. Now, at the time they opened, you could buy a large pepperoni pizza for $2. Man, those days are long gone, but the business took off. They opened up five more stores by the end of 1958. And today Pizza Hut has close to 20,000 stores across the world.

But you can still see the original store. It’s actually a museum. There’s nobody in there. When I went and visited, it’s just this building and you walk up the door’s unlocked and you walk in and you’re in there by yourself or at least I was. The museum is on the campus of Wichita State University. As soon as you drive into the Wichita State University complex. It’s right there on the left. It’s just a little building sitting off in a grassy area. Right there on the left. It’s just a little building sitting off in a grassy area. Walk up the front, walk of the sidewalk there, open the door, walk in and they have everything in there. It tells you about the start of Pizza Hut, how they started a lot of old memorabilia from when they first started. It tells their history throughout the years and everything. But it’s a cool little museum and tells you a little bit about entrepreneurship and how these two guys started a dynasty in the pizza industry. But Wichita has so much more to offer.

 

08:38

Now, I am a huge history buff, and this place is full of history, and I’m going to tell you a few more places that I think you really should visit when you’re there. Now, every time I go places, I tell people that I like history, I like historic things, I like to visit historic places, learn about the history of the places I visit. The culture, the people, because I think it’s very interesting. I mean, to me, history tells us where somebody originated from and what happened there throughout the years. And one of the but they, you know they always tell me you love history. You got to go visit our museum. We have a really cool museum. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re not.

Wichita has one of the best museums I have ever visited anywhere. It’s called the Museum of World Treasures and it’s in Old Town, Wichita. The museum was founded by a local doctor and his wife back in 2001. Now they had a love of travel and history, just like I do, but they took it a step further. Every time they visited these historic sites around the world, they wound up purchasing artifacts whenever they could. They brought them home and soon they had so much that they just decided to open a museum. Well, it outgrew its original space, and it moved to its current location in 2003 in Old Town, Wichita, and since the opening, the museum has grown to house nearly 9,000 artifacts from over 250 different collectors. They wound up getting things from all of their friends, and everybody wanted to contribute.

Now Old Town is actually a 20 block section in downtown Wichita that has seen a revitalization like you wouldn’t believe. There’s all these old buildings and warehouses dating from the 1800s that were repurposed into a shopping and dining destinations. There are all kinds of stuff to do down there and it’s a destination all in itself, but the museum houses, like I said, about 9,000 artifacts on three floors and they have rare and unusual pieces that span everything from a seal used to sign documents from 3,000 BC to a section of the Berlin Wall. When you first walk in, there’s fossilized dinosaur remains, but they’ve got all kinds of stuff. They’ve got ancient artifacts from Mesopotamia, Rome, ancient Greece, Egypt, pre-Hispanic eras. There’s also displays from Africa and Asia. There’s memorabilia and artifacts from the Revolutionary War and the founding of America, all the way through the Vietnam conflict, and now this will blow your mind this museum has signed documents from every US president.

Now I’ve been places where you might see, you know, a signature from Lincoln or something like that. This place has a document from every US president. There is stuff there that you just would not believe. You could spend two or three hours there. It’s fantastic. You’ve got to visit this place. If you’re ever in Wichita.

12:16

But Wichita has something for just about everyone. They have a place called Botanica, and Botanica is 18 acres of gardens. That displays plants and flowers native to the area and some that aren’t. I mean they’ve got a Chinese garden complete with a quarry pond. They’ve got a butterfly garden, they’ve got fountains, streams, they’ve got a bee house where they produce honey, they’ve got a big carousel for the kids and those that are young at heart and just lots of events happening there. They do yoga and tai chi and music events and just a whole lot more. There’s a little model train that runs through the park. I mean there’s not one you can ride, but an actual model train that runs through the park. I mean there’s not one you can ride, but an actual model train that’s on the outside, and they have all kinds of stuff there. I mean it’s a gorgeous place. You talk about a place where you can get some photos. That is a place that you can visit, real family friendly. There’s kids running around everywhere, but it’s just a really cool place. I’m not a big, you know, go visit our outdoor garden section but I enjoyed it, I’m telling you.

 

13:28

You can easily spend a half a day or longer just enjoying the gardens and taking a break, and they have a whole lot of other little museums around town. Close to Old Town there’s a place called the Great Plains Transportation Museum. Now, if you enjoy trains and train history, this is your place. If you’re driving through Old Town, there’s an overpass train tracks going over the roads and when I was there and I’m assuming it’s probably there most of the time there’s an old locomotive, an old train, parked on those train tracks and it’s right outside of this museum and they have just all kinds of stuff there. But it’s the Great Plains Transportation Museum. You got somebody that loves trains and train history in your family? Stop by and check it out.

14:22

Now, I’m also retired military, and I like to visit a lot of military history and military places. Well, they have Veterans Memorial Park, and it’s located on the northern banks of the Arkansas River, and Veterans Memorial Park has a big walking trail that leads to all the various memorials honoring veterans and previous military conflicts. There are 21 different memorials in this park, including memorials honoring people that were awarded the Purple Heart. There’s one for POWs and MIAs. There’s one for the Kansas Korean War veterans, World War II Revolutionary War, a Civil War Reconciliation Memorial. It’s just really cool and nice to see. It’s a really nice park right in downtown Wichita.

15:21

Now here’s something about Wichita. I did not know until I arrived. Did you know that Wichita is called the air capital of the world? And I didn’t realize how much aviation history was in Wichita. I mean, I knew there was a Boeing facility in Wichita that built the B-29 Superfortress during World War II, but Wichita has a long and storied history involving aviation. Companies like Beechcraft, Cessna, Learjet, Textron and many others were early pioneers that started up in Wichita and made it the air capital of the world and as such, they have the Kansas Aviation Museum.

It’s located on the old Wichita Air Terminal grounds, not near where the modern airport is. In fact, it’s across the tarmac. You can look across and see an Air Force base, but it has several aircraft on hand from various times in aviation history. I mean you see old biplanes; you see things about the pioneers. It tells you about the pioneers like Cessna and things like this, that made Wichita famous, and it was pretty important back in the day. I mean Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart both landed there at one time. In fact, I think Amelia Earhart is from Kansas. In fact, Fred Astaire even entertained the crowd one time while he was waiting to board a plane, did a little dance number there in the terminal and it’s one of those art deco buildings. So, the building itself is pretty cool and there’s a lot of stuff in there to see. Now here’s something really cool. They also have what is called the B-29 “DOC” hangar.

17:14

Now it is located near the current airport, the Dwight D Eisenhower National Airport, and it houses a true gem. It is a fully restored B-29 Superfortress with the nickname Doc from Snow White and Seven Dwarves. Doc was one of the dwarves. They’ve got a caricature of Doc on the nose of the plane and it was one of the planes that was built in Wichita at the Boeing factory during World War II. In fact, it is only one of two flying B-29 Superfortresses today, the other being located in Dallas, Texas. Now there were a total of 3,970 of these big super fortress planes built at five different Boeing plants between 1943 and 1946. The Boeing plant in Wichita built 1,644 of those planes. So, after recovering this old, dilapidated aircraft in the desert in 1988, it was fully restored and deemed flight worthy in 2016. And since then, it’s been on display in Wichita with its own hangar where you can get a guided tour.

They’ll tell you all about the plane. There’s all these volunteers that work here and they’ll show you the plane. They’ll tell you all about the plane. They’ll take you inside the plane, let you look around in it. All around the plane there’s things on the wall which will tell you about the plane and the history of the super fortress.

And here’s the neat thing you can even take a flight on that plane. Of course, it’s going to cost you some money and they have three or four different price ranges depending on where you’re sitting on the plane. You can sit in the nose gunner section. You can sit in the cargo section. There’s several different areas you can sit in. Every now and then they’ll go up and they’ll advertise it. They’ll say you can book a flight on this plane, and we’ll take you up to fly you around for an hour or two. But you need to check because it’s not always there, because they take this thing out and tour it around the United States at air shows. So when it’s not flying around at air shows around the various air shows in the US, you can visit this, and it was there when I was there and I had a great guided tour and learned all about this thing. I love looking at these old World War II planes that made history.

19:56

Now, nothing epitomizes the city of Wichita more than a 44-foot-tall Keeper of the Plains sculpture. It’s sitting on top of a 30-foot rock at the convergence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers, just a couple of hundred yards from this Veterans Memorial Park I was telling you about. The sculpture was donated by a Native American artist named Black Bear Bozen and it was donated to the citizens of the city of Wichita in 1974. And it’s accessible by a walking bridge. There’s a bridge that spans from both banks of the river and you can get to it from either bank, and every evening, depending on weather conditions, the sculpture is lit up by the ring of fire and these are fire pots that are lit, and they burn for 15 minutes. It happens just after dusk and there’s usually hundreds of people on the bridges and on the banks of the river checking out this thing. I mean, I was there one night when they did it and it is a beautiful, beautiful sight and it stands majestically over the rivers there and it is the symbol that Wichita is known for.

Basically, like I said, you need to get there a little early, find a good spot, get there a little bit before dark and you’ll have a great view for this nightly event that happens. But there is just so much stuff to see and do in this town. You could spend a week there and fully enjoy yourself. There are festivals, there’s all kinds of things going on. There was a river fest there when I was there, and it was a huge event with live music and food vendors and just all kinds of things. Right down on the river.

22:00

In downtown Wichita there’s all kinds of historic buildings, great shopping and restaurants along Douglas Avenue, there’s live music venues, there’s great museums, tons of outdoor activities and just a whole lot more. And one thing I didn’t know then at the time but have since learned. Kansas has started something called the Gunsmoke Trail from the old Gunsmoke TV series, and Wichita is part of the Gunsmoke Trail. And what the Gunsmoke Trail is four cities in Wichita that were prominent in the TV show Wichita, Abilene, Hays and Dodge City and all of these communities have kind of linked up to make the Gunsmoke Trail. If you want to take a road trip through Wichita and check out all four of them and they all look back on the region’s Wild West days and they have all kinds of things and experiences that you can do, and I’m telling you, if you ever get a chance, you need to visit and you need to check these places out.

23:13

A lot of people don’t think of Kansas as a destination to visit, especially if you live, like, in the deep south or the east coast or the west coast, but it has a lot to offer. It’s a great place to visit. Some really good food there, some nice museums, a lot of history and some really friendly people. I had a blast. I think you will too. You really should check it out if you ever get a chance. So that’s it for this week and next week. I’m going to tell you some of the best places to travel during the month of January. So, until then, safe travels, thank you.

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